I have heard mixed opinions on this matter, but what are the main reasons someone would want to install the 32 bit version of Kali on their 64 bit PC?

clearday

2013-04-28, 23:47

Mostly for compatibility with existing drivers and programs. Also, most of the pen testing tools do not require or take advantage of 64-bit processing (except perhaps scanning and encryption cracking). Another way of looking at this is many software have been around since 32-bit era and still need to be rewritten to take advantage of 64-bit processing.

I have heard mixed opinions on this matter, but what are the main reasons someone would want to install the 32 bit version of Kali on their 64 bit PC?

charonsecurity

2013-06-21, 10:02

There is no advantage to 64bit over 32. Its an illusion to sell software and to get people to update their hardware. Its no faster. Its the samething with dual and quad core. What speeds up your computer and make it seem faster is the RAM. You notice that all new computer run 8gig of ram to do the same work as 2 gigs did?

Respectfully I disagree with this assessment in general. Although I do agree that running Kali in 32bit is my preference as clearday alluded to, there are real world advantages to using a 64bit system. However yes you are right in so far that there is not much of an advantage when it comes to running everyday software or doing remedial task such as email or documents, listening or watching media (2 Gigs of ram does this quite nicely). But if you move into the realm of encryption, media editing, compression, password generation, scientific computing or basically any memory intensive utilization (where 8 Gigs of ram comes to play) then obvious noticeable gains are observed.

perawang

2014-05-26, 15:34

I have been do it, but I get:
you must install 32bit developers..etc :confused:

falconflame

2014-07-19, 15:23

Mostly for compatibility with existing drivers and programs. Also, most of the pen testing tools do not require or take advantage of 64-bit processing (except perhaps scanning and encryption cracking). Another way of looking at this is many software have been around since 32-bit era and still need to be rewritten to take advantage of 64-bit processing.

I do agree with clearday on the statement Mostly for compatibility with existing drivers and programs. And also if you use kali 32-bit as persistence live USB, it'll work flawlessly in 32-bit and 64-bit machine.